3K Triple-One Hunt

The 3K Triple-One Hunt was held on Saturday, the day before theSun Hunt last week. It was clerked by TrailBlazers which was in turn helmed by Captain Jack Swallow.

A number of my friends have suggested that I have a look at the questions and answers of the Triple-One, and then see what I make of them. But I found that suggestion a little strange. To start with, I wasn't even a participant of the hunt. And then I might even become vulnerable to the title of a busy-body! Why would I want to poke my nose into a hunt which does not concern me?

Such were my thoughts until I received a personal call from the good Captain himself two days ago. He said he's sending me an email on the hunt, and would be looking forward to my comments on it. However, I found it a little strange that only photos were attached to his email, and nothing on the questions and answers of the hunt. I wonder if he's only looking forward to my comments on the photos?

At any rate, I have now in my possession the questions and answers from a friend who's kind enough to scan them and send to me this morning. I am having a bit of trouble reading through the scribblings all over the pages, but I will try to figure 'em out somehow.

I will go into the detailed analysis on specific questions in separate threads; and, oh boy! it seems that I have a hell lot to comment on! I don't know if I can finish commenting within a week, but perhaps I will just concentrate on a few of them.

Some of you have also raised your concern that I am often too blunt in my comments; that I might just offend some people because of my comments. Well, I have to admit that I sometimes have the tendency to get carried away. But please be assured that my comments are not intended to belittle or to make anyone feel small. I sometimes can't resist my sense of humour; and of course there is that tendency of being sarcastic too. But that's probably because I've been reading too much of Che Det?

Anyway, I'd like to mention here that I have received reassurances from some of the CoCs of whom I commented on in the past. They actually welcome my comments; and I am therefore encouraged to continue commenting.

Coming back to the Triple-One, I have noticed a change in the Captain's style since his previous hunts. One striking change was his attempt to complicate the clues, perhaps for the sake of confusing the hunters, but without much thoughts invested in the quality and elegance of the questions. The words that he used in his questions are not harmonious with each other; and a lot of the times the surface readings do not make much sense—they're merely meaningless ramblings and devoid of any sensible storylines.

Consider this treasure clue by Michael Pang, which I thought was very impressive:

The old-fashioned love at first sight.

The surface reading is neat; all the words blend in with each other harmoniously to form a perfectly smooth and meaningful storyline. But from the cryptic point of view, this clue translates to the brandname, Yeo's.

Now compare the above with the first of the Captain's riddles:

Q1) Mishandled for a gory female deer.

What can you make out of the sentence? That word "gory" is an adjective which means "involving violence and bloodshed". In this sentence, "gory" is used for the "female deer". Try to imagine the storyline with a female deer in the light of "involving violence and bloodshed".

Then we have the "Mishandled" at the beginning of the sentence. That, too, is another big, fat question mark. How do you "mishandle a gory female deer"? Furthermore, why mishandle for...?; why is that "for" there in the sentence anyway?

Do you see now what I mean when I said the questions lack quality and elegance? Well, I will have more to say later in separate posts.